Add Some Theater Into Your Life With One Of These 4 Musicals

By Alexandra Brown on April 9, 2015

These days, college students usually turn to Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, and other video streaming sites for their media entertainment. Going out to the movies is also popular because it’s just fun to go out with friends and see a brand new, much-anticipated movie on the big screen.

Going to the theatre and seeing performances such as musicals seems to be becoming less and less popular. Maybe, if you were involved with your school’s theatre department as a high school student, you can appreciate musical theatre for what it’s worth. Or, you might be a theatre major at your college or university, in which case you have some background or interest in musicals.

For the most part, though, it’s probably safe to say that the majority of college students don’t turn to musicals as a form of entertainment.

However, here are four musicals that college students can either relate to, enjoy, or both.

1. Grease

Most of us are familiar with the widely popular film “Grease,” starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, which came out in 1978. Although this film came out significantly before our time, we can still find a love for it, and for this reason, we can relate to and enjoy the musical as well.

The plot centers mainly on the high school relationship between characters Danny Zucco and Sandy Olsen, starting in the summer of 1959, but also follows each of the characters’ groups of friends, and their reactions to the relationship.

With lively solo performances by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, as well as entertaining group performances of catchy and memorable songs, this musical is a classic, and one that college students can definitely enjoy and even relate to.

Although high school is over for us now, it’s still in the near past, and we can always appreciate films attempting to portray high school life, no matter how inaccurate, and the same is true for this musical.

2. Hair

Although the musical “Hair” originally came out in 1968 on Broadway, and was adapted into film in 1979, a lot of its themes are central to things college students deal with because of our age in general.

The musical’s plot centers around free spirits in the socially and politically evolving decade that was the 1960s, as well as political activists and protesters. Characters within the musical experiment with sex, drugs, music, and social change, which are definitely aspects of life that college students tend to be concerned with, or tend to experience or experiment with.

For these reasons, and although the time period of “Hair” was before any of us were even born, we can relate to and enjoy this musical.

3. Rent

This rock musical, whose Broadway production debuted in 1996, mainly follows two roommates, a filmmaker and a rock musician, who are living in New York City’s East Village while trying to survive and produce their art.

The musical, which was later adapted into film, deals with drugs, and the AIDS scene in the 1980s in New York City that defined gay lifestyle in that decade.

College students can relate to this musical because of the social and political issues it deals with, as they’re still issues that exist today, especially for students of our age who are coming to terms with who they are.

Much like “Grease” and “Hair,” which were both made a few decades before our time, “Rent” is filled with catchy music, has won a Tony and Pulitzer Award, and is widely loved as both a musical and political statement.

4. West Side Story

This musical, which was also adapted into film, came out in 1957 on Broadway, and also contains certain themes that are still relevant today although it is a little before our time.

The plot centers on the relationship between different street gangs, and is set in the Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City. College students today can relate to this musical because of the different themes it observes like social and economic class, and relationships in general between groups of people who come from different places, and are forced to interact despite contrasting backgrounds.

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